Activision Has No Plans For A Standalone CoD Zombies Game

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg confirmed that, at least for the time being, there are no plans to release a Call of Duty title that focuses specifically on the co-op Zombies element.

Hirshberg explained that, while Zombies has certainly risen in prominence to the point where it can be considered its own in-depth experience, Activision likes the fact that there’s so much cross-pollination potential between the three core “pillars” of Call of Duty (story campaign, competitive multiplayer, and co-op multiplayer/Zombies), and it doesn’t want to disrupt that formula by breaking Zombies off into its own thing:

“I think that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts when they’re bundled together for the following reasons. There’s a lot of crossover. It’s not like we have these three modes and then there’s just three types of players that break into three factions, and never cross over. There’s a tremendous amount of crossover between zombies and multiplayer. There’s a tremendous amount of crossover between single-player and zombies. Now, there’s variability in the next step: How successful we drive that omnivorous behavior. It’s really advantageous when we do. People who play more than one mode stick around a lot longer, we’ve noticed statistical. So that value proposition creates both a better experience for the consumer and it creates a player who sticks around longer in our community. For us, we think it’s a win-win when we get it right. I also think that it’s just a competitive advantage.”

While more dedicated Zombies fans may be saddened by Hirshberg’s comments, his reasoning does make sense. A well-crafted Zombies/co-op experience can inspire a player to give other modes a try, and vice versa. Plus, there is also the fact that Activision’s opinion on the matter could change in the future if Zombies/co-op continues to be a hit amongst fans (which it most likely will).